Supreme Court rules against Rastafarian inmate in dreadlocks case

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled against Damon Landor, a Rastafarian man who sued Louisiana prison officials after his dreadlocks were forcibly cut while he was incarcerated. Despite acknowledging that the act violated his religious freedom, the 6-3 majority decision centered on the legal interpretation of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA). Landor, whose dreadlocks symbolized his devout Rastafarian faith and had been grown for nearly two decades, had them cut in 2020 during a short prison term, even after presenting a prior court ruling that protected Rastafarian inmates' hair.

The Court's majority opinion, penned by Justice Neil Gorsuch, determined that RLUIPA does not permit lawsuits seeking monetary damages against individual prison officials in their personal capacity. The reasoning was based on the Spending Clause, arguing that Congress lacks the direct authority to impose such liability without the officials' consent, which was not given in this instance. This technical ruling upholds lower court decisions that had similarly dismissed Landor's claims for damages.

The ruling garnered dissent from the court's liberal justices, with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson arguing that the decision leaves prisoners, like Landor, without a practical remedy when their religious rights are violated while incarcerated. This outcome marks a rare instance where the high court did not side with a plaintiff arguing for expanded religious freedoms.